Time Spent
by Trialia
Summary: Five times Bill made Laura coffee.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Time Spent (1/5)

Author: Trialia

Fandom: Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Rating: K (for now)

Word Count (ch1): 263

Beta: Kate (sasha lilyrat)

Spoilers: Home II

Summary: Five times Bill made Laura coffee. For Jess (firstlady1408).

A/N: I have taken some liberties with the layout of Bill's quarters in this one... I never can remember. Can be read as friendship for those people who don't like the 'ship aspect of A/R.

xxx

On setting foot inside Commander Adama's quarters for their first true meeting since Kobol, Laura Roslin's attention is immediately half captured by what she can smell on the air, even as the other half sends a searching gaze around the room, looking for its occupant.

_Where in the name of all the gods did he find coffee out here?_

She's mystified and, at the same time, enticed. The scent isn't quite like the coffee she remembers, but it seems close enough that it wouldn't matter.

Laura moves forward.

"Bill?" she calls quietly, testing the name she's used little as yet. His guards are outside, so he must be here somewhere. Her question is answered a moment later when he steps from around the corner where his kitchenette arrangement hides, holding two steaming mugs.

"Madame President," he greets her, smiling slightly, and that in itself is rare. "Please, take a seat."

Laura does as she's been bid, the frisson of relief that washes through her moving into curiosity. Bill hands her one of the mugs, setting the other down on the table in front of him as he moves to seat himself alongside her.

"Picon Bronze Roast, the last I had left," he explains companionably. "Thought you might appreciate it."

She's sure her grin could light the lamp by itself.

"Thank you, Bill," she says before taking a sip of the strong, bitter brew, her eyes half closing with the memory and the taste of it.

"You're welcome," he responds, his eyes warm, "Laura."

She smiles. Some bridges, once burned, can still be mended.

_-fin_


	2. Chapter 2

2/5 – beta-read by Justine.

xxx

He's watching Laura across the breadth of her desk (where did they find that, anyway?). Her head is bent over fuel reports, a pen in the corner of her mouth, and his mind has drifted to thoughts of anything but work. Her hair would be falling over the papers if she hadn't pinned it back; it looks good up, though, a coppery-auburn tendril or two curling over her ears, the rest pulled into a messy ponytail high on the back of her head. Her sleeves are rolled halfway up her arms, and her position in the chair is more casual than she'd usually allow. It warms his heart to think she's so comfortable with him.

She does look tired, though.

A brainwave strikes him as she glances up slightly, making a notation on the sheet in front of her. Before she can speak, he voices it.

"I'm going to order up some coffee," he says, giving her the tiniest hint of a smile. Privileges of rank and all that, but he plans on making it himself. "You look tired. How 'bout a break?" He gestures to the reports still piled before her. "They'll wait."

She smiles, taking the pen out of her mouth and twirling it between her fingers (the only part of her he's seen that even begins to show her age, but she still has graceful, delicate hands).

"All right," she agrees, leaning back in her seat. Her eyes say she knows what he's been doing while she's been reading the reports. He might say she has a sixth sense, if he hadn't known she's seen him looking before (a smile and a change of subject, smooth as ever).

When the coffee arrives, it's already been brewed, so he pours it for Laura first (milk and a flat spoon of sugar, just the way she likes it). She thanks him prettily. He can feel her watching him as he makes his own drink (two sugars, no milk), a prickle on the back of his neck. It's not an unpleasant sensation.

On a whim, he lifts his head suddenly, directing his warmest smile at her (so glad to see her healthy enough to be tired instead of the deadly exhaustion that had plagued her before).

The grin that lights her sweet face in response is pure pleasure, and for a moment he imagines he can see the fresh sparkle of the vivacious teenager Laura must have been a few decades before, bright and lovely.

But of course, he realises a few minutes later, he saw her: she never really left.

-tbc


End file.
